For the future: Support centre aims to pair young people with their dream opportunities

The centre will counsel unprivileged youngsters to improve their weaknesses.

KARACHI: The young men and women of Karachi often struggle to find jobs that match their interests and abilities, and in order to address that, the Karachi Youth Support Network (KYSN) has taken the initiative to step in and help provide them with the ideal opportunities.

“I have always wanted the nation’s youth to think big,” said commissioner Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui, who was the chief guest at the KYSN opening ceremony held on Tuesday at the KYSN facility centre in the School of Leadership (SoL). The support network is a joint programme of the Karachi Youth Initiative (KYI), the Sindh Department of Youth Affairs and the SoL, focusing on employability, education and talent.



“The KYSN will allow the young people of Karachi to avail the opportunities of their interests,” said the commissioner. “I am glad to see that youngsters from underprivileged areas will get a chance to prove themselves.”

Siddiqui felt that the onus is now up to the youth to step up to the plate and grab the available opportunities. “The KYSN is a long-awaited project and I am sure that it will prove to be a model youth resource centre,” said Siddiqui. “This country belongs to the youth, not to the prime ministers and the presidents.”

SoL CEO Umair Jaliawala discussed the aims and objectives of KYSN. “At the start, we will be working solely with the youth of Korangi, Lyari, Sultanabad and Hijrat Colony,” he said. “However, we plan to expand and incorporate the youth of the entire city, and maybe one day even the entire country. KYSN is a one-of-a-kind youth centre model that mentors the young and guides them in a number of ways.”

KYI spokesperson Farhan Iqbal believes that a youth resource centre was required to inform youngsters about events and opportunities of their interest. “KYSN is a state of the art facility equipped with all necessary technology to facilitate the youth of the city in whatever way possible.”

KYSN will store the information of all its members and will profile them through a predetermined format made by 26 KYSN members. The abilities and interests of the members will be matched with any potential opportunities. The matched members will then be provided specialised training programmes and will be provided counselling to improve on their weaknesses.

“KYSN is a physical space for the youth of Karachi and the first model youth centre that houses a call centre, an ‘incubation centre’, an audio-visual room, a training room and an internet cafe,” claimed KYSN team member Marwa Malik. “Our aim is to equip the youth with entrepreneurial skills and match their abilities with the opportunities in which they will excel.”

The event also featured an introductory video about the KYSN, a tour of the facility and a cake-cutting ceremony.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2014.